My writing comes in waves. I write a ton and then… it trickles. I’ve been like this for years – not counting my year in grad school where I wrote every day because every day I had either a deadline or a goal that I needed to meet if I was to get my thesis done (which I did). But I graduated from The University of Chicago about a year ago, and my writing went back to coming in waves. In last week’s WIP Wednesday posting, I recounted all the progress I made in the previous three weeks – and then that wave of work ended. This past week I’ve been working on only one lonely chapter, and I haven’t made a drop of progress.I want to get back to being as productive as I was back in grad school. Granted, I don’t have entire days to devote to my work – I have to pay back those grad school loans somehow! – but I know there’s more that I can do, and that’s why I wrote yesterday’s post and created some pretty hefty deadlines for myself. The deadlines make me a bit nervous, but I kind of like it that way. I have distinct goals that I can tick off each week; I can measure my progress. These deadlines – and thereby my nerves – help hold me accountable.
Then again, last night my daily writing consisted of writing the beginning of a story that got stuck in my head on my way to work, and that had nothing to do with my novel… but at least I was writing.
I’ve got a lot to do in the next two weeks – writing and otherwise – so back to it!
As always, happy writing!
If you want to join in on WIP Wednesday, check out Kate's blog here.
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2 comments:
I think sometimes it really helps to have goals and deadlines. I know that for me also my most productive times were when I was in school, so even though there are no grades hinging our our efforts - we still need to work as if there were.
Ho man, that writing-in-spurts thing happens to me, too. :) I don't usually have that problem with editing, but writing, definitely. Do you have a work in the first-draft stage now, too, or is it all about the revisions at the moment?
(In case you're wondering, "Who is this random person?" I found your post at Rachelle Gardner's blog party. :) )
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